Dhanas liquor vend hits a new high in e-auction

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 19

A liquor vend at Dhanas village received the highest bid of Rs11.55 crore at an e-auction today. Proximity to Punjab is being seen as the likely reason for the high bid. Since liquor is cheaper in the UT in comparison to Punjab, the vend, given its location, generated the maximum interest among the bidders.

The UT Excise and Taxation Department had received a total of 162 bids electronically for 80 liquor vends having a reserve price of Rs317.31 crore.

The department collected a total revenue of Rs398.04 crore in the shape of licence fee, registering an increase of approximately 25.44 per cent over the reserve price, and Rs5.67 crore in the shape of participation fee.

The highest bid of Rs11.55 crore was received for the liquor vend at Dhanas village against a reserve price of Rs7.95 crore, registering an increase of 45.31 per cent. The lowest bid of Rs1.95 crore was received for a liquor vend at Basti Bhagwanpur (Kishangarh village) against the reserve price of Rs1.75 crore.

In 2019-2020, the department had earned the highest revenue of Rs10.78 crore from the Dhanas vend. In 2020-2021, the vend had received the second-highest bid of Rs7.05 crore. A liquor vend in Sector 9 had fetched the highest bid of Rs7.56 crore last year.

An official said analysis of the successful bidders revealed that no single entity got allotment of more than eight vends.

In the Excise Policy 2021-2022 announced recently, the UT Administration had decided to keep the licence fee and excise duty on beer and wine unchanged. The excise duty on the India-made foreign liquor (IMFL) has been increased by 6 per cent which is expected to increase the prices of IMFL brands by 10-12 per cent. To curb any cartelisation or creation of monopolies, allotment to a single entity was restricted up to a maximum of 10 liquor vends only.

In the new policy, the Administration had also increased the number of liquor vends from 94 to 96. The bids for the remaining 16 vends will be received till March 23 and opened on March 30.